Magical Night in the Museum
by weirdbard
Summary: Drakken sends Shego to a 'special' museum to get some items for him. There Shego finds dangerous items, dangerous people and Ron Stoppable. Of all the dangers to be found in the weird museum to one most likely to take Shego's heart could be Stoppable himself.


A Magical Night in the Museum

Author's note:

No profit is being made from this work of fanfiction and I do not own any of the characters from Kim Possible.

The original characters of Hecate and the Lost Scorpions however are mine but I freely give right to use them to anyone else who might wish to make use of them in their own works.

This story has no connections to my other ongoing Kim Possible stories except for one. Mention is made of Empty Lairs. This story takes place one year later from Empty Lairs.

Shego stretched out on the couch in Drakken's latest lair and let out a bored sigh. Glancing at the calendar on the wall, which for some reason had a kitten on it, Shego noticed it was October. The kitten was indeed a black one and it was sitting inside a hollowed out pumpkin shell.

While that might explain the kitten image, it did not explain why a man who considered himself a criminal mastermind and was a self proclaimed villain had such a cute cat calendar in the first place. Or why the fool buys and then puts up a 12 month calendar when there is only three months left in the year?

Shego frowned as the thought of October brought to the forefront of her memories the Waverly Hills Institute and her brush with occult forces. It had been also one of the very few times in her life that Shego had been genuinely terrified for her life.

The frown turned into a full blown scowl at that thought. Shego had a tougher than nails reputation and that she had been afraid was not something she liked to experience, let alone risk the information getting out.

Fortunately, her greatest enemy Kim Possible had been out for much of it and the times she was awake to notice Shego's fear, Kim had been more concerned with her own fear.

And Drakken was so quivering in his own shoes, he had no time to notice anyone's fears but his own.

The only one fully aware of just how terrified Shego had been was Ron Stoppable and Shego knew she had nothing to fear about him gossiping about it.

Shego's scowl turned to a gentle smile as she thought about Ron. He had saved her life several times that night and hadn't ridiculed her about being afraid.

On Halloween night one year ago she had repaid that kindness of his by rocking his world. Shego's smile turned to a smirk as she honestly admitted to herself that Ron had rocked her world as well.

Shego sighed once again, but this time not in boredom but in... What? Lust? Longing? Loss?

Even Shego herself wasn't sure. She hadn't seen nor talked to Ron since that night.

After the incident with the institute, Drakken had changed. No longer did he rant about world conquest or send Shego out on raids for technology but had become almost scholarly. He did have Shego go on a few thefts but the items had been books and so minor they didn't even alert Kim Possible to try and stop her. So no reason for Shego to see Ron... And Shego, even only to herself, admitted she missed seeing him.

Course Shego on her own could have sought the young man out but why would she?

"He saved my life and I repaid him for that." Shego thought angrily to herself. What more did she expect? Romance? A relationship?

Ron was a good person and Shego was a bad person. Simple as that. Anything more would be problematic at best and nearly impossible at worse.

Shego knew that.

She told herself that.

In her mind she accepted that.

So why couldn't she convince her foolish heart that it was so?

Making sure the room was still empty of anyone except herself Shego sighed again and said out loud. "I wonder if Ron thinks of that night and wishes it could have been more?"

Miles away Ron Stoppable leaned his head against the cool metal of his school locker door and sighed. It was October again. October used to be his favorite time of the year. Crisp air, the smell of fireplaces firing up for the first time, candy, costumes and horror movie marathons on T.V.

Then last year had happened. Waverly Hills, mad doctor ghosts, running for his life... And Shego.

Ron had no illusions. He knew that the only reason Shego had visited him that Halloween night was to repaid what she saw as a debt to him for saving her life from the horrors of Waverly Hills but even if that had been the reason. The passion they shared that night had been real. Hadn't it?

That Shego had been as moved by their intimate experience as Ron had he was almost convinced. There had been a real emotional and intimate connection between them, Ron was nearly certain of.

Ron resisted the urge to bang his head against his locker. _"If such a deep connection had formed, then why hasn't she tried to see me since then?"_ Ron thought to himself.

Ron understood a relationship between him and Shego wouldn't be an easy one, if not altogether impossible. He was on the side of good and Shego was a villain but surely if Shego had felt one tenth of what Ron had, there had to be a way it could work. Right?

Ron couldn't stop his mind form remembering the way Shego had moved that night. The soft cries of pleasure she gave or the way she moaned his name as she did things to him that he had only dreamt about.

Ron with a start realized that his treacherous mind and his memories had 'awaken' certain parts of his body and he now had a sizable problem at hand even as his heart ached for Shego.

His heart may only have memories of Shego's smile and warmth but other parts of his body were only concerned with memories of her lean athletic and talented body.

"_That's all I need."_ Ron thought to himself as he grew harder. _"For Kim to come along and notice my little problem." _

Things hadn't gotten any better between Kim and Ron since he had saved her life that night at Waverly Hills. The only thing Kim seemed to remember about that night was that Ron had carried her greatest enemy Shego in his arms.

Why a woman who had her own boyfriend, Josh Mankey and was not shy about rubbing it in Ron's face, cared whom Ron carried was beyond him.

"_If Kim knew what else me and Shego had done on Halloween night that year, she would kill me."_ Ron thought to himself.

Mental images of exactly what he and Shego had gotten to, caused his little problem to twitch and grow even larger.

"Ah damn." Ron sighed to himself. What he really needed was a nice ice cold shower. Pity there was no chance of that. There wasn't anyone in the halls of the school to notice Ron's plight but that was because almost everyone else was already in the classrooms. There was only scant seconds before the final bell for class was due to ring at which time Ron would be officially late to class.

"Can this day get any worse?" Ron muttered to himself as he once again leaned his head against his open locker door.

"Hey Loser."

Ron recognized the voice of Bonnie Rockwaller coming from behind him.

"When am I going to learn not to ask if something can get worse?" Ron asked himself. Opening his eyes he watched as Bonnie came around to face him. "Hey Bon Bon. Better run on to class. You are going to be late." He said trying to get her to go away before she noticed his problem. He was partially shielded from view by the open locker door and he had no plans to leave his spot until the brunette was far away.

"Shouldn't that be my line Loser?" Bonnie snipped back. "I just don't want you late for cheerleader practice today and that is what will happen if you get detention."

"Didn't know you cared." Ron replied.

"You wish. Frankly I couldn't care less if you never showed for another practice ever but the other cheerleaders get cranky and moody if you aren't there so get a move on!" Bonnie said reaching out grabbing the locker door and jerked it out of Ron's hands exposing his 'condition'.

Ron waited for Bonnie's snarky comment. It was painfully obvious she was aware of his problem. She was staring directly at his crotch!

"Is Rufus in your pocket?" Bonnie asked somewhat hoarsely.

Ron waited for...Or are you just glad to see me? But Bonnie just continued to stare at his crotch with a kind of glazed expression on her face and Ron realized she wasn't joking.

Before he could reply, Rufus stuck his head out of his locker shelf and waved at Bonnie. "Hi. Hi." He squeaked at her.

Bonnie glanced at Rufus and then looked back at Ron's sizable bulge.

Ron was really starting to get weirded out by her staring and wished she would just say her sarcastic comment and leave.

To his surprise Bonnie started to blush and stammered. "Look at how huge.. I mean late it is getting. I really need to get some. I mean I need to get to class." And then she turned and walked away quickly.

Ron frowned at Rufus. "Well that was weird. She didn't even look at her watch."

Rufus shrugged.

Ron breathed out a sigh. At least his run in with Bonnie had helped a little with his problem. Her staring had made him so uncomfortable, his small problem was starting to wilt and soon he would be able to go to class. Bonnie was attractive. Don't get him wrong. She just couldn't hold a candle to the sight, smell and taste of a certain lean minty skinned goddess. A goddess with raven hair and soft lips and even softer...

"Awww man." Ron nearly cried with frustration as his body once again sprang to life. "I'm never going to be able to go to class like this! How am I going to handle this problem?"

"RONALD DEAN STOPPABLE!" Kim's voice shrieked at him from behind. Ron nearly had a heart attack at her sudden yell and instantly his 'problem' wilted away and nearly tried to climb back up inside him.

Turning he looked at the tweaked Kim standing with her hands on her hips.

"Yes Kim?" He asked.

"Why are you zoning by your locker?" She demanded. "You are going to be late to class and since I had to come looking for you, so will I!"

"Coming Kim. I just had to get something from my locker and it was taking me a few minutes to find it."

Kim walked up to the locker and reaching in she ripped a Shego wanted poster from inside it. "Well you wouldn't have a problem finding stuff if you didn't keep such trash in your locker in the first place!" Kim ripped the poster to bits.

Ron hid his annoyance at her by reaching into the locker and picking Rufus up and transferring him to his pants' pocket. "Let's run and maybe we can still make it before we're late."

Kim beat the bell but Ron didn't. Even though he was a half step behind her through the classroom doorway as it rang but it was Barkin's call as he was substitute teacher for that class this day. Barkin did agree to let Ron serve his detention after cheerleader practice at least.

But even cheerleader practice was odd that day.

For some reason the usually graceful Bonnie kept messing up her stands and falling.

Fortunately Ron in his Mad Dog costume was there to catch her so she didn't break anything.

Kim didn't miss the chance to insult Bonnie on her lack of grace but to Kim's frustration, Bonnie didn't seem to care. She would just shrug, insist they try the stand again only to fall on top of Ron. Over and over.

Ron walking to detention after practice was walking slowly and awkwardly. Kim walking with him eyed him strangely. "Why are you walking like that and wincing?"

"As many times as Bonnie fell on me in practice you have to ask? That was bad enough but every time she got off of me, she put her hand directly into my crotch and squeezed."

"Its just your imagination." Kim said dismissively.

"Its not my imagination that is bruised and hurting." Ron replied.

Barkin waiting at the detention room door watched Ron. "You pull a groin muscle while at practice?" He asked.

"Something like that." Ron grimaced.

Barkin sighed. "Get home and put some ice on that injury. I'll let detention slide just this one time."

Ron wanted to yell Boo Yah over avoiding detention but he was so sore he just nodded and said thank you as he limped away.

Kim would have walked Ron back to his house to make sure he made it okay but her boyfriend Josh Mankey had been made decorator for the Halloween party/dance and he wanted Kim to check out the decorations in the gym and then go with him to a art museum, so with barely a wave she left Ron to make his own way home.

Shego was filing her nails when Drakken entered the lounge. The calendar on the wall now had every day in October marked off except the last one.

"Shego I need you to acquire certain items for me for my latest scheme." Drakken said.

Shego tried to maintain her bored expression but inside she was nearly shouting in glee. Something to end the boredom. For nearly a year Drakken had been quiet and now they were finally going to get back to normal.

"When do we leave?" She asked.

"Oh. Not tonight. Tomorrow night." Drakken replied.

This brought a frown back to Shego's face. She had almost talked herself into seeing Ron on Halloween. It would almost be like an anniversary. Imaging those large strong hands of his on her body... Yeah Shego was certain she wanted to spend Halloween with Ron and not doing a job for Drakken.

"Why not today? Why do we have to wait till tomorrow night? Tomorrow is Halloween. Aren't you planning on going to your usual Halloween party with the other villains?"

Drakken rolled his eyes. "Please. Those jealous fools? They made fun of my costume last Halloween because it was so good. I have better things to do this Halloween."

Shego snorted. "You went as a carebear. Are you really surprised they made fun of you?"

Drakken looked annoyed. "Be that as it may. It has to be tomorrow night because the place I want you to rob has security on it. Tomorrow the funding for the security force ends and they will leave the job."

"Like a bunch of rent a cops would worry me. And if the funding ends tomorrow why can't we just hit the place a few days later then? Why must you spoil my Halloween?"

Drakken shrugged. "Since when did you start caring about Halloween? I thought you said the parties bored you. Last year, you left even before I did. As for the rent a cops? The security force in charge of our target is the Lost Scorpions."

This gave Shego pause. The Lost Scorpions was a small military detachment that had been kicked out for excessive violence. Rumor had it they went into private security after their dishonorable discharge and had quickly gained a psycho reputation. Shego was nearly certain if it came down to it she could hold her own against them but she agreed with Drakken why risk it if she didn't have to?

"So? Why not wait a few days after they are gone and then get your junk then?"

"I wish you would stop referring to the valuable exhibits as junk!" Drakken ranted.

"Exhibits? So the Lost Scorpions are guarding a museum?"

"Um, kind of. You see a private collector of... Um, oddities decided to open a museum showing off his collection but something happened and the place is to be closed before it even opens." Drakken hedged.

Shego eyed him suspiciously. "So if the place is to be closed, my question still stands. Why not wait till sometime in November and get the stuff then?"

"The family of the collector are going to tear down the museum on November 1st and destroy all the exhibits."

Shego sighed. Something was going on here and she already didn't like it. "If the exhibits are so valuable, why would they destroy them?"

Drakken wouldn't meet her eyes and addressed the room. "How should I know? Maybe they were upset with all the time and money their family member put into the museum and this is their way of getting revenge? Maybe they just don't appreciate the value of the exhibits? Or maybe they are rich enough they just don't care?

All I know is the museum has items I want. It is going to be unguarded tomorrow night and the next day torn down.

Why are you being so difficult over this?

I'm paying you good money to waltz into an empty and unguarded museum and pick up a few things for me. It won't even be a test of your skills. It'll be more like... Shopping.

The family of the collector won't even miss the items and would destroy them anyway!"

Drakken suddenly eyed Shego suspiciously. "Did you have something planned for Halloween night?"

Shego had no desire or intent to explain her & Ron or what the night meant to them so she answered with a question of her own. "Where is this collector you keep mentioning and why is he letting his family tear down what is obviously something very important to him? I mean he wouldn't hire the Lost Scorpions unless he cared a great deal for his musuem."

Drakken went on the defensive. "Um... He disappeared?" He nearly stammered.

"Disappeared? How?"

"I don't know. He collected his exhibits. Bought land and built from all accounts a quite impressive museum and then just vanished. Maybe he was ashamed by how much money he wasted on the thing or realized he was never going to get customers for his museum or maybe he ran up such huge debts building the thing he took off to hide from bill collectors? I don't know. I just know that the place never opened. The funding for security runs out today and the family will be tearing it down November 1st. I'll play you twice your normal pay for this."

Shego blinked. "You must really want those exhibits. What are they?"

"I have a list. I'll give it to you tomorrow."

Shego's sense of something being wronged just tripled.

"Why can't you tell me now?"

"The list is fairly large. In addition to twice your pay, how about two weeks spa retreat added to your vacation?"

Shego now deeply suspicious replied. "Three times my normal pay and three weeks spa."

Drakken nearly purpled in anger.

"All those precious exhibits being destroyed. Such a pity." Shego mocked him.

"Done!"

"What?" Shego asked.

"I said done. As in I agree with your demands. Three times your normal pay and three weeks in a spa if you will steal the items I require."

Even though warning bells were going off in her head Shego nodded. After all what could possibly go so wrong that it would make the extras not be worth the trouble?

As the morning of Halloween eve dawned, Ron found himself with a sense of impending excitement running through him. Even though he hadn't seen nor heard from Shego in over a year, he suspected if she ever planned on seeing him again, socially that is, it would be this night.

If Shego ever wanted him, even the tiniest bit Ron felt that tonight would be the night she would be back. She just struck him as the type of woman anniversaries were a big thing to.

It was this reason that Ron was on cloud nine as he went to school.

Kim had her date with Josh Mankey so she could care less where Ron was this night and in any case he had already prepared Kim by telling her he was going to go trick or treating and then watch a all night horror movie marathon.

But as Ron walked up to Kim's locker he felt a sense of impending doom come over him.

"I absolutely can't make it Wade." Kim was saying to the monitor inside her locker. "Josh's big night is tonight and I refuse to not be by his side for it."

"Hey Kim. What's going on?" Ron asked.

Ron's sense of impending doom increased as both Kim and Wade on the monitor looked at him.

"You don't have any plans for tonight do you?" Kim asked in way of a greeting.

"Just the usual." Ron replied cautiously. "Trick or treating and movie marathon. I told you about it a few days ago. Remember?"

Kim flashed Wade a smile. "See? He has no plans at all. He can do it."

"Do what?" Ron asked.

"We had a hit on the website." Wade explained. "The family of Dr. Melvin Madacar have asked us to provide security for one night for a museum their late father built."

"Late?" Ron asked with a growing sense of dread.

"Well he was legally declared dead." Kim supplied. "They never found a body or anything like that. He just disappeared."

"If it is a museum, don't they have their own security?" Ron asked.

"Its not really a museum." Kim again answered for Wade. "Its just a place the crazy doctor built to highlight his private collection. It was never opened to the public. The doctor built the place and he did hire some security to watch over the place but the money he left to fund that has run out and the family declared the missing doctor legally dead and are going to tear the place down tomorrow."

Ron blinked. "Well if they are going to tear it down anyway, why provide security for one more night?"

Kim looked blank and looked to Wade.

Wade also looked surprised as well. "I didn't think of that." He admitted. "But in any case they have asked us to do this. Just one night guarding the place so it won't be robbed and then tomorrow it will be gone for good."

"So just turn them down." Ron said. "I mean what good is guarding something that will only be torn down the very next day?"

Kim frowned. "But they asked us. I don't want to get a reputation as being unreliable. It would set a bad precedent for our site. People might stop asking me for help if it gets out we turned someone down and over something so simple as guarding an abandoned building."

"But you have something to do tonight." Ron stated.

"But you don't. You can represent us tonight."

"But trick or treating and a movie marathon." Ron tried.

"I'll buy you a big bag of candy tomorrow in the after Halloween sales and you can watch horror videos any time. What is more important? A night you had nothing planned for or my, er I mean our reputation?"

Ron really wanted to stay home in case Shego showed up but he had no concrete proof the villainous woman planned on seeing him again. Maybe it had only been her paying him back for saving her life and in reality it meant nothing else to her? And if Ron dug in his heels about staying home this night, Kim might drag out of him why. And Ron knew his life would be a living hell with Kim if she ever found out.

Ron sighed. "Okay Kim. I'll do it."

Shego's sense of unease just kept growing. First there was the fact that Drakken was piloting the hovercraft. That always made her feel unsafe and then there was the general sense that Drakken was keeping something from her.

He avoided her questions on where the museum was located, the items he wanted her to steal for him.

Every time she tried to push the issue he was quick to change the subject.

Meanwhile Ron was feeling his own sense of doom as well as a hefty sense of betrayal by Kim.

First, there was some kind of conspiracy going on between Kim and Wade. Neither of them would tell him the location of the museum or what exhibits were inside. It reminded Ron strongly of the Waverly Hills incident. Just like that time neither Wade or Kim would tell him where they were going till they arrived cause they thought he might freak out if he found out. Was this museum something else that had been mentioned on Ghost Hunters?

Shego surveyed the area that Drakken had dropped her off in. Actually he had the hovercraft hover while he lowered her down on a rope. He claimed the winds in the valley were so unpredictable he didn't want to risk the hovercraft in a landing.

The 'museum' Shego was to break in to was obviously located in a small valley high up in the mountains some where.

The valley was just large enough to house a huge building in the distance, a small lake near the building and some dense trees surrounding the whole thing. A brand new paved road lead over the distant hills to the building and that was what Shego was now standing on.

Shego felt a little exposed standing in the middle of a two lane road under bright street lights but as Drakken had pointed out, there was no one else in the entire valley this night but her.

Shego with a sigh started walking down the road to the grand building that waited but paused when she heard what sounded like the sound of a approaching helicopter.

Quickly ducking into the dense woods that lined either side of the road, Shego watched as the helicopter swaying dangerously in the high upper winds of the valley made its way towards the museum. Grabbing a pair of binoculars from a pouch on her belt Shego tried to make out the figure being slowly lowered on a rope to the roof of the building.

The building however had its own set of high powered lights nearly blinding Shego and the only thing she could tell was that it was a single figure lowered to the roof and the helicopter then flew off without depositing anyone else.

"Damn you Drakken." Shego muttered to herself. "Why didn't you think to drop me on the roof rather than making me hike all the way there myself?"

Whoever the other person was didn't worry Shego much. It was probably another thief looking to steal from the place on the one night it was unguarded like she was. Hopefully whatever the other thief wanted wasn't on Shego's list. In which case Shego didn't mind sharing a theft with them. And if what the other person wanted was on the list of items that Shego had in her belt? Well then the other person was going to be disappointed. Shego wasn't going to miss out on her three weeks of spa treatments for no one.

Running along the side of the road Shego quickly made her way to the empty parking lot of the building and from there up a series of stairs that lead to two huge magnificent doors. Examining the exterior of the building Shego frowned. Outside of the two huge wooden doors there were no windows, projections or even blemishes on the shining white walls of the massive building. The entire thing appeared to be carved out of a single gigantic block of white marble. Surely it wasn't, but in the bright lights of the place that was its appearance.

There was a single bronze plaque near the double doors and Shego paused to read it.

"Welcome to the Museum of Mystical, Magical, Malevolent, and Mysterious items of Doctor Melvin Madacar."

Shego bemused wondered how long someone had to work to come up with so many alliterations of the letter M.

Her smirk faded when as the meaning of what she read sank in.

"After almost dying a year earlier from some weird supernatural crap, Drakken wants to play around with more of it? And he picks Halloween night for me to rob a place filled with all this junk?"

Whipping out a compact radio Shego presses the button and says in a deceptively sweet voice. "Oh Drakken?"

After a moment a hesitant "Um, yes?" comes back. His nervous voice revealing that the good Doctor has a very good idea why Shego is calling him so soon after being dropped off.

"Why am I breaking into a museum of occult items?"

"Well after our experiences last year I've had to accept that there might just be something to the supernatural, magic and the occult and since I've failed to take over the world with science..."

"Forget it." Shego said, her sweet mocking voice gone to be replaced with a cold one.

"Now Shego. You are already there."

"No."

"Now Shego be reasonable."

"No. Come pick me up."

"Um...No." Drakken replied.

"WHAT?"

"You have to be reasonable Shego."

"I am being reasonable. I won't kill you for trying to screw around with occult stuff and I won't maim you...Too much for ruining my Halloween night. But if you think I'm going inside this building and stealing..."

"Five times your normal pay."

"After nearly dying in that madhouse a year ago?"

"And six weeks at a exclusive spa?"

Shego paused and stared at her radio. "I really hope I don't end up regretting this decision." She muttered to herself. "Done." She said out loud to the radio.

"That's the spirit Shego. Go get the stuff I want!"

Shego glared at the innocent radio in her hand and had to exert her will to keep from melting it with her powers. She would need it later so she settled for shoving the thing back into her pants' pocket.

Reaching the front doors of the place she flared her plasma powers and shoved at the door. Only to have the door not budge a solitary inch or the 'wooden' of it to burst into flames from her plasma powers.

Blinking Shego looked at her hands and then to the door. Via the bright lights that seemed to be everywhere Shego could see the only signs of damage on the door was a slight flaking of paint. Examining it closer, Shego took a single nail and flicked a piece of paint off and saw underneath the wood grain was the shiny white marble of the building itself. Meaning the doors were fake. Just window dressing to make it look like this was the entrance to the building when in fact it was a solid and apparently very thick wall.

"How the Hell were paying customers expected to get inside this place?" Shego mused. Walking back down the stairs that led to the grand 'doors' of the place Shego noticed a path leading around the side of the building and with a shrug she set off that way.

The path followed the outskirts of the building for a while before it meandered into the trees for a bit before turning back towards the museum. When Shego cleared the woods she could see the path ended at a gazebo at the edge of the lake. Across the water Shego could see the shining white building of the museum glittering in its lights, almost as if it was taunting her.

Going inside the gazebo Shego spotted a row of levers below two rows of lights. Red lights on top, green lights below them and a large rocker style switch next to the levers.

Idly Shego flipped the switch and instantly all the red lights above the levers glowed. Reaching over she flipped the first lever down and watched as the red light above lever four go out and the green light glow. Pulling the fourth lever down Shego watched as the bulbs switched again from green to red and the first lever's light went green.

"I get it." Shego muttered. "A logic puzzle. Simple one at that but what do I get if I solve the puzzle?"

Flipping levers Shego quickly figured out the pattern necessary to light all the green lights at once.

"And with this lever they should all..." Shego said out loud as she pulled down the number two lever. All the green lights on the board glowed and held her breath as she waited... And nothing happened.

"What a gyp! I mean I expect more than green lights!" Shego had to windmill her arms as suddenly the floor she was standing on started to rotate and sink down into the ground with the sounds of gears meshing.

As the floor came to a stop, Shego could see that she was at the entrance to a below the surface passage. Soft glowing lights showed a glass tunnel that went through the lake as Shego could see fish swimming by outside its wall. A large banner hung at the start of the tunnel proclaimed. "Welcome to Doctor Melvin Madacar's Museum."

"Welcome... Welcome..." A pleasant woman's voice called out startling Shego.

"Who's there?" She demanded as she flared her hands.

"I am Hecate. The curator and guide of this museum. My name stands for Head Educational Computer And Teaching Entity."

Shego relaxed. "So you are some kind of artificial intelligence program?"

"And you are the criminal known as Shego." The voice replied calmly.

Shego relit her hands. "How do you know that?"

"Not many people have light green skin or can summon plasma fire." The voice pointed out.

"So what are you going to do now? Call the cops on me?" Shego asked

"Security is not a function of mine. That is handled by the Lost Scorpion security firm."

"Not tonight it isn't." Shego said with a smirk. "Their funding ended and they have gone."

"Why would someone pay a security firm for nearly a month but not the very last day of the month?" The computer stated. "I assure the Lost Scorpions are on premise and will be till tomorrow morning."

Shego felt a chill go down her back. "Where are they at the moment?" She asked looking around the glass tunnel as if expecting them to leap out at her at any moment.

"At the moment all the team members of the Lost Scorpions are on the upper floors of the museum."

Shego breathed a sigh of relief but then eyed the empty hallway suspiciously. "Why are you telling me their locations so freely."

"I am programmed to be helpful and supply information."

Shego frowned. She already had a bad feeling about this place and a group of paramilitary maniacs and a overly friendly computer just added to that feeling. Deciding the weirdness was just a bit too much Shego turned to head back to the gazebo and leave. Only to find the roof of the gazebo blocked all exit up and out. Staring at the ceiling of the gazebo Shego with a sinking feeling realized it was made of the same white substance the entire museum appeared to be. Which had already proven to be resistant to her plasma powers.

"Raise the gazebo and let me out." She called to the computer.

"I'm sorry Dave. I can't do that." The voice replied.

"What?" Shego shouted.

"Sorry. A little artificial intelligence humor there. But really I can't raise the gazebo once someone has come down it until they leave the other entrance of the glass walkway. It was the Doctor's desire that once someone enters the place they have to view his exhibits before they can leave again."

Sighing Shego resigned herself with going through with the robbery attempt. If the computer continued to give her helpful updates of the whereabouts of the Lost Scorpions there was a chance she could get all the items on Drakken's list and avoid the nutball security force all together.

"Can you please keep me informed on the location and movements of the Lost Scorpions?" She asked the computer.

"Sure. Why not?" The computer answered enthusiastically

"Why are you being so helpful to me?" Shego finally had to ask. "You have to know I'm here to steal stuff from this place."

"I am programmed to be helpful... And there has been no one to be helpful to. The Scorpions won't talk to me and I'm lonely since the Doctor has gone."

"Where did the Doctor go if this place was so his baby?"

"The Doctor has gone no where. According to my sensors he never left the museum."

"You said he was gone."

"He is."

"You are not making sense. He is either here or he has left the museum. Which is it?"

"The Doctor was checking an exhibit and suddenly he was not there. He did not leave by any of the doors of this building and my sensors show he is not here."

"That is impossible." Shego muttered and then stopped walking. "Unless... What exhibit was the Doctor checking at the time?"

"The Shadow Gate. It is a large stone arch the Doctor found in a remote jungle."

Shego nodded her head. What the computer was describing reminded her of the Transdimensional Vortex Inducer. A machine capable of opening dimensional portals to... Other places. It sounded very much like the good Doctor had found a mystical equivalent and got sucked... Somewhere."

Quickly pulling out Drakken's 'wantlist' Shego scanned it and sure enough there it was. One Shadow Gate. How the man thought Shego was going to make off with a stone arch was anyone's guess.

Shego continued down the passage and warily watched the occasional flash of fishes through the glass ceiling drawn by the lights. Finally Shego could see that the glass ceiling give way to a stone ceiling. Along the sides of the stone passageway were niches high up in the ceiling with softly glowing crystals.

"Are those things real or just fancy lighting effects?" Shego asked curious.

"They are real." Hecate answered her immediately. "The doctor found them in a passage in Egypt. "How they generate their own light or why they give off no heat is unknown."

Shego quickly pulled her list out again and ran a manicured fingernail down it. There they were. Cold light crystals.

Using her plasma fire Shego burned some handholds into the rock wall and quickly scaled up to one of the niches and cautiously reached out a hand to one of the large crystals. True to their description they gave off no heat or weird feelings in her hand so she gripped the stone and pulled it from its spot. Hefting it for a moment to judge its weight Shego found it a lot lighter than she expected to be, which was good as she was going to have to carry the damn thing. Shoving it into a bag on her belt she once again used her plasma powers to burn handholds and inched sideways till she reached the next niche and quickly removed its crystal as well. "Drakken said he wanted 'crystals', two is enough for him. Especially with the freaking size of this list he has given me."

Dropping lightly to the floor Shego continued walking as if she hadn't just stolen two items from the place.

"Get what you wanted?" Hecate asked suddenly.

"So, you can see me?" Shego asked.

"Of course. I can see everywhere and everything in the museum."

"Then why didn't you yell at me to stop or call the Lost Scorpions?"

"I told you. I'm programmed to be helpful and security is not my function. Besides which, I heard the Doctor's family talking a few days ago. They plan to destroy the museum and everything in it, including me tomorrow afternoon. So why should I care if you steal a few items from it tonight?"

"Wow, they are going to destroy even you? I mean you seem to be quite an impressive computer/artificial intelligence combo. You too big to be moved?"

The computer gave a very human sounding laugh even thought it had a note of sadness in it as well. "Actually my central processor is the size of a large suitcase. I can be moved easily and only lose my memory banks dealing with the exhibits. The doctor's wife hates me. She seems to blame me for her marriage breakup. Almost as if the doctor was having an affair with me or something."

Shego almost asked if the doctor had been having an affair with the computer. After all the extent of 'special devices' for computers these days it could happen but she didn't want to annoy her only ally in the museum. "Say... Lets make a deal. You help me find the stuff on my list quickly and avoid the Lost Scorpions and I will make an effort to take you with me when I go. You are not on Drakken's list but believe me, he can use some more intelligence."

"Deal." Hecate said without hesitation.

Shego smiled. This could be the start of a beautiful partnership.

Ron was doing what he did best in life. Running to preserve said life.

After being dropped off on top of the windy building, Ron searched for a way inside. Finally he found a single door and thanking his lucky stars he found it unlocked and slipped inside the museum. Why the ride Wade arranged for him couldn't have let him off at the front doors but had to lower him on a rope he didn't know but he just added to the list of annoyances for the night. The first being that Kim dumped this on him at the last moment. The fact that he wasn't going to be able to see Shego tonight and his best buddy in the world wasn't with him either. Rufus had stayed behind to help Kim's twin brothers with a haunted house.

Finding himself in a well lit circular room, Ron looked around. Hanging from the ceiling via wires were models of planets in the universe. Astronomy wasn't Ron's thing but even he could recognize the planet Mars as he approached it. A blinking dot on the globe drew his attention and as he approached the globe the blinking dot faded and a face appeared on the surface and rose underneath it like a face being seen pressed through a rubber balloon.

"What in the world?" Ron asked out loud.

"Not on this world." A pleasant woman's voice said, almost as if it was at Ron's ear. "You are looking at the famous 'Face on Mars'. A seemingly constructed artifact on the planet Mars."

Spinning around Ron saw no one. "Who are you? And where are you?" Ron asked.

"I am Hecate. My name stands for Head Educational Computer and Teaching Entity. I can be your guide through the Museum of Mystical, Magical, Malevolent, and Mysterious items of Doctor Melvin Madacar."

Ron idly noted the same thing Shego did earlier. He was once again on a Halloween night in a place filled with potentially dangerous occult items. No wonder Kim and Wade hadn't told him anything about this place before he was dropped off. Still, he was stuck for the night and might as well make the best of it.

"Cool." He replied to Hecate. "I guess tonight can be interesting. My name is Ron Stoppable by the way. I'm pleased to meet you Hecate."

"Please to meet you too Ron Stoppable. May I ask why you are here this night? The museum is not open to the public yet, or sadly never will be."

"I was asked by the Doctor's family... Or I should say Kim Possible was asked to guard the place tonight but she had something to do so they trick... er asked me to do it. So Hecate anything I should know?"

"Yes Ron. The criminal Shego is in the lower levels of the museum and there is a Lost Scorpion security guard on this floor and he is about to terminate your life."

"Shego is here?!" Ron asked happily before the rest of what the computer said sank in. "Wait! The Lost Scorpions are here? I was told their funding ran out and they were gone, hence the reason Kim, er I, was asked to come here tonight."

"Yes there seems to have been some kind of mix up with Doctor Madacar's family. The Lost Scorpions are paid up till tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m.

A sudden burst of gunfire happened behind Ron and the face on Mar's suddenly blew apart as a rain of bullets hit it. Reacting instinctively Ron quickly ducked behind the globe and felt it shudder as bullets continue to hit it.

"Can't you tell them that I'm a good guy? I'm not here to steal anything so why are they trying to kill me?"

A roar of rage was heard and Ron risked peeking around the globe to see a squat ugly man carrying a really huge chain gun was across the room looking in his direction. Spotting Ron the man gave another bellow and opened fire again. Ron quickly ducked behind the globe.

"I don't think they will listen to me." Hecate said sadly. "And as for why they want to kill you? I think they are just really bored and looking for an excuse to destroy, but that is just my feeling."

Hearing cracks Ron glanced behind him and could see that Mars was about to explode from the hail of gunfire. Spotting a huge model of Jupiter a few yards away, Ron took a deep breath and sprinted for it. Behind him he could hear Mars explode and saw pieces of the mock planet hurtling past him. Sliding just under the curve of the model of Jupiter, Ron placed the model between him and the guy with the huge gun. Hopefully he hadn't seen Ron's run and might think Ron had been blown away along with Mars.

Hearing and feeling Jupiter shuddering behind him Ron knew that was a faint hope. "You guys are suppose to be guarding these exhibits. Not destroying them you know!" He yelled out.

Having a feeling what was coming next, Ron ran for the next globe without pausing. Sure enough the sound of gunfire came immediately and Jupiter gave out a loud crack and the bottom half fell to the floor with a loud boom to rock gently back and forth.

The next 'planet' was actually quite small and this worried Ron greatly. There wasn't much cover for him from the gunfire but it was better than nothing. The globe wasn't even that impressive in appearance. Just a gray ball with a blinking light on the surface.

"What is this?" Ron asked.

"This is the planet Uranus. The blinking light represents the location of mysterious radio signals that have been recorded coming from the planet. No one knows how the signals are being generated or what they may mean. They have been given the name, 'Ghosts of Uranus."

Even being in mortal danger, Ron was fascinated and wished he had more time to learn more but a bellow from the squat man drew his attention as the man once again opened up with his chain gun. Spent shell casings and the links between the bullets rained down on the museum floor. "I see you behind your anus." The man yelled.

"Dude! Even I know it is pronouced Ur..a...nus. Not your anus." Ron yelled back.

The globe rocked violently as the man wildly fired.

"And they say I'm hard to teach?" Ron muttered. To the ceiling he shouted. "Hecate can't you do something?"

"I can try Ron. The exit to this floor is located to your right. I will try to distract Trunk. When I do, run. Once through the exit I can seal the door behind you and that will buy you some time but with the fire power that Trunk carries, it won't last long." 

"Before Ron could reply, warning sirens went off and the door to the roof clanged shut startling Trunk. The man turned while he was firing and the walls of the museum was drilled by bullets.

Ron raced to the exit door and threw himself through it. As the door swung shut Ron had the time to just spot the man named Trunk turning back in his direction. The stairwell door was solid steel but already Ron could hear the thudding of bullets hitting it and see it shudder.

Ron bolted own the stairs.

Clearing the landing and heading down the next level of stairs Ron almost ran into a woman standing at the next level's door before he windmilled his arms and came to a stop a few stairs away from her.

Ron had thought that Shego's catsuit she wore was skintight and left little to the imagination but this woman's clothing was even tighter and more provocative than hers.

The woman in front of him had long blond hair in a single braid wrapped around her throat several times. The end of the braid lying directly in the valley of her quite impressive breasts. She was dressed in tight black leather and Ron could see the heave of her breasts under the leather as she breathed in and out.

"Um, hi?" Ron asked. Encouraged by the fact she hadn't immediately attacked him on sight like the man above had done.

"Hello." The woman breathed out in a seductively low and throaty voice.

"I'm Ron Stoppable. There has been a bit of a snafu. I was called in to watch this building tonight because the family of the owner thought you and your team were gone."

"My name is Left Pincer." The woman once again breathed out in a husky voice. "And I don't care why you are here. Left Pincer is just glad that you are here. And cute too." She said as she stepped away from the door and started towards Ron.

"Left Pincer? That's an interesting name." Ron said as he gripped the hand rail of the stairs and started inching backwards. The sound of constant pounding on the door above him reminded him there was no safety that way.

"My twin sister is named Right Pincer." The blond woman said as she placed her foot on the first stair. "We are called that because once we dig our claws into prey, we never let go." The woman smiled at Ron and the smile was so evil Ron's nervousness went into full blown panic. Quickly climbing backwards Ron reached the turning landing of the stairs. The woman below him quickly matching his steps as she licked her lips.

"Don't worry baby." The woman cooed at him. "You will enjoy our attention, at least at first. All our prey end up with smiles on their faces."

Ron turned to run up the stairs back to the planet room when he heard Trunk behind that door bellow again and he could see large bumps on the door as bullets hammered into it.

"Come down to Left Pincer pretty one. At least me and my sister will leave a body your next of kin will recognize. Trunk will leave you so riddled with bullets they won't even be able to piece you back together."

Hearing the door above him finally give way. Ron looked up to see Trunk staring down at him. The chain gun gone now and the man was carrying a sub machine gun pointed at Ron's direction.

"Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place." Ron muttered to himself.

"Let Left Pincer help with that hard place." The woman breathed at him.

Looking over the railing at the narrow space between the sets of stairs Ron took a deep breath and leapt over the railing. A heavier man would never been able to clear the tiny space but Ron being lean and lanky slipped through without hitting either set of stairs and landed on the landing with the door to the next level bypassing Left Pincer on the stairs. Slipping through the door Ron slammed his shoulder against it and heard Hecate locking it.

"Safe." Ron breathed.

"Um, not really." Hecate stated.

"Huh?" Ron asked turning his head... To stare directly into the eyes of a redhead with her long hair in a single braid leaning on the wall next to him.

Her flaming red hair was pulled into a tight braid and Ron idly noted that while the blond's was wrapped around her throat from left to right, this woman's braid was wrapped around her throat from right to left.

Other than the direction and color of her hair, the woman next to him was identical to the blond down even to her clothing.

"Right Pincer I presume?" Ron asked.

The woman smiled an identical evil smile of her sister and nodded. "And you are adorable." She stated. "Lets get that nasty door open and let my sister in to play also and the Pincers will show you a great time." The redhead reached for Ron and Ron eyes went to her hands... To see needle sharp hooks extending from gloves she was wearing. Ron's eyes widen as the words of the first sister ran through his mind. "When we dig our claws into prey, we don't let go."

With a high pitch squeal that Ron thought did nothing for his manly appearance Ron dropped down as the woman's claws snagged on his shirt, peeling it off of him slicker than you please.

Ron didn't even give a second thought to his beloved shirt but ran for his dear life. As Ron ran he noted that this floor of the museum seemed to be dedicated to plants and trees as the room was very humid and there was surprisingly tall trees in the large room.

Ducking down a random path through the foliage, Ron was about to leave the pathway and climb into the exhibits proper to hide when Hecate called out from the ceiling. "NO!"

Even though Ron thought Hecate was probably just worried about him damaging an exhibit he still pulled to a stop right before crossing the low railing between the pathway and the exhibit. "Why?" He called out.

"That is the Amazon man eating plant exhibits."

Ron his eyes growing wide looked at the plants a few feet away from him and saw several large shrub like plants open up as if inviting him to hide inside. That is until Ron noted the almost human like teeth lining either side of the greenery.

"Great." Ron sighed. "I'm trapped between man eaters. Where is Right Pincer anyway?"

"She is trying to get the door open so her sister can join her."

"You said Shego was in the building?" Ron asked as she started jogging down the pathway hoping to find the next stairs leading downwards.

"Yes. Do you know her? She seems nice. Well as nice as someone robbing me of my exhibits can be." Hecate said pleasantly.

"We've dated. Well, we're friends anyway. Um, we've met. Its complicated." Ron stuttered a bit.

A loud bang startled Ron. "What was that?"

"That was the door to the stairs to the upper floor."

"Those kinky women got it open?"

"Not really. Trunk ran into it at full speed and broke it open by brute force. Fortunately the impact knocked him out completely. That's the good news."

"I know this game." Ron muttered. Louder he added. "What is the bad news?"

"Pretty one? Where are you? Wait for the Pincers." The two sisters voice called out not far behind Ron.

"Never mind. I know what the bad news is." Ron said as he broke into a full run down the path.

Shego thought to herself that Drakken was almost right this time. Not that she would ever tell him that. So far the thefts had been almost like shopping. She even found a large flat cart she was pushing like a shopping cart loading her 'purchases' onto it.

Shego was enjoying the ground floor of the museum. It was the magical gems and jewels exhibit and other than the occasional gem with the place tag that said 'cursed' she was grabbing all she could. Even the ones not on Drakken's list.

"Do you know a Ron Stoppable?" Hecate surprised her by suddenly asking.

Shego's pleasant mood dropped being reminded she was missing out on some Ron time this night and she replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Ron is currently on the 8th floor of the museum."

"Ron is here?" Shego said with a brilliant smile that once again dimmed. "Is there an annoying redhead with him?"

"Only Right Pincer and she is not really with him. More like in pursuit of him."

Shego stopped her cart and stared up at the ceiling in confusion. "Huh?"

"Right Pincer is a member of the Lost Scorpions. Ron was the one on the roof of the building and after gaining entrance to the building the Scorpion Trunk and then Left Pincer and then Right Pincer have ran into him."

"And Ron is by himself?"

"Other than the Lost Scorpions? Yes. Why wouldn't Ron be alone? You are."

"Kim Possible is usually with Ron. They are kind of a package deal. Where there is one there is usually the other." Shego explained as she pushed her cart to a shadowy corner of the museum and left it to be picked up later. Spotting a bank of elevators, Shego ran over to them and pressed the call button.

Nothing happened.

"The elevators are turned off." Hecate supplied.

"Well turn them back on. I thought we had a deal?"

"We do have a deal but I can't turn the elevators on. They require a key to do so and I don't have keys. I don't even have pockets to keep keys in, let alone hands to turn keys."

"Okay. Okay. I get it. Where are the stairs? I have to get to Ron."

Finding the stairs Shego started climbing. "Seven flights of stairs? I must care about you Ron to do this." Shego said blowing her bangs out of her eyes.

"Tell me about this Right Pincer you mentioned earlier." She said as she climbed.

"Right and Left Pincers are the only two females in the Lost Scorpions..." Began Hecate in her lecture voice.

"I thought the Lost Scorpions were a ex-military lunatics?" Shego said as she came to the door to the next level of the museum. "Hey?! Why do these crazy stairs not continue on to the other floors?"

"The museum was designed this way. The Doctor feared people hearing others descriptions of the museum would skip floors and only go to the ones that they thought sounded interesting so no stairs rise higher than one floor and the same goes for the elevators. You have to switch to the next elevator bank or stairwell to go any higher."

"And let me guess... They are always on opposite ends of the museum?" Shego said with a sinking feeling.

"You got it. As for the Lost Scorpions? The two sisters that make up the Left and Right Pincers were nurses but they were more interested in pain and suffering than they were in healing. In the gulf war they snuck off from their field hospital and went AWOL. They were finally found by military police with a homemade torture chamber in enemy territory. They would capture enemy troops and sexual torture them to death and then collect souvenirs."

Racing across the next floor of the museum, Shego didn't bother to examine the exhibits so she couldn't even say what the theme of this floor was. "Souvenirs?" She asked, the sinking feeling getting worse in her chest.

"The sisters took the manhood of the soldiers they slaughtered. They keep them in a tackle box. I've seen it when on breaks they take out their trophies and reminisce with each other. Since the only people they had tortured and killed were enemy soldiers the government covered up their activities and settled for quietly dishonorably discharging them. They were discharged at the same time of the Lost Scorpions so they kind of adopted them. Perhaps that is why the government decided to keep everything quiet? Because of so much bad press about the Lost Scorpions?"

Even running full out as she scanned the room for the stairs Shego was able to question. "Maybe. In my experience governments need excuses to tell the truth and to not lie so it was probably just standard practice. You say have seen their trophies? How the hell did they get back home with those things?"

"Good question. Maybe you could ask them when you see them?"

Shego lit her hands with her plasma fire. "I let my hands do the talking for me. How's Ron doing?"

"He's doing quite well surprisingly. He runs quite well."

Shego allowed a smile to flash across her face. "He does other things very well too."

Ron ran like a scared deer. A mental image that was reinforced as he glanced behind him to see the Pincer sisters bounding after him like hunting hounds harassing prey.

"Pretty one, wait for us. We'll treat you right... At least at first."

Ron running through the greenery of the museum finally spotted a sign that said exit. He was tempted to cut across some of the exhibits but even though he was well past the carnivorous plants exhibit he was still reluctant to trust the safety of the exhibits so he stayed on the path.

Somewhere along the way Hecate stopped talking to him and he was feeling a little abandoned. A feeling reinforced by the fact that Rufus wasn't with him. He could really use his little buddy's advice right about now.

Finally reaching a sharp curve in the path before he reached the wall with the exit sign Ron zipped around it only to skid to a stop as he spied a man leaning on the closed door. The man was thin waspish looking man in a fine black suit with a bowler hat on his head. A elegant walking cane was leaning on the wall near him.

Ron sighed. "Why can't it ever be easy? Why does it always have to be hard?"

"Is it hard?" One of the Pincers nearly upon him called out. "Keep it hard for us Pretty One."

The man leaning on the exit door straightened up and glared at Ron. "Are you fooling around with my girlfriend?" He asked. The threat of violence thick in his tone.

Ron looked back at where the Pincer sisters had pulled to a stop and was watching him and the man. "Which one?" Ron asked.

"There's a difference?" The man asked seemingly genuinely confused.

"In any case sir, no I have not been fooling around with either of them."

"Leave him alone Stinger. He's ours!" One of the Pincer sister yelled.

"Stinger?" Ron asked.

The man reached over to the innocent looking walking cane and twisting he pulled out a deadly looking sword from the cane's body. "Stinger." He confirmed.

One last large tree was near the exit to the room and from that tree a vine hung down near Ron. Without a second thought Ron grabbed the vine and began climbing like crazy to avoid the man with the sword.

Unfortunately Ron's luck was running like usual so his pants took that opportunity to drop down and since Ron was vigorously kicking as he climbed his pants flew off to land on the path.

"OOH." One of the sisters aww'd. "Now we really want him for our tackle box."

Ron had no idea why his pants falling off made them decide he should go fishing with them but something told him he didn't want to find out why or what of his they wanted for their tackle box.

Reaching the end of the vine Ron scrambled along the limb of the tree the vine was growing from. Fortunately the tree was fairly big in size making Ron wonder briefly how they managed to get a living tree on a upper floor of a museum or how the root system didn't crack the floor or for that matter how the floor supported the weight of a full grown tree.

Brought down to just his boxers and his sneakers Ron imagined he must look like Tarzan as he scrambled along the tree branches. Or maybe like a almost barely clothed monkey?

Ron violently shook his head. The thought of how he might look like a monkey must be playing with his mind. He could swear for a moment that a monkey's face had appeared in the bark of the tree.

However, his attempt to clear his mind seemed to backfire as more and more monkey faces appeared in the bark and glared at him.

"Um Hecate? You still with me?"

"Yes Ron. I'm here."

"What is this tree I'm running in?"

"It is the Amazon Monkey Ghost Tree. It is said that those attuned to the ways of the monkey can see the spirits of monkeys in the bark of the tree. While the doctor never saw anything in the bark he thought it was a good story so brought back a sample of the tree to the museum."

Ron eyed the many monkey faces looking at him. "Can you guys help me any?" He asked.

The bark like faces stuck their tongues out of him and then sank back into the bark of the tree.

"Yeah that is about what I thought was going to happen." Ron muttered.

"Who are you talking to?" Hecate asked.

"Doesn't matter. They aren't going to help anyway." Ron said as he continued to run. Behind him he could hear the catcalls of the Pincer sisters amongst the trees so they had climbed up after him.

Suddenly the familiar sound of gunfire rang out from below and to the side of Ron. The bark of the tree splintered as bullets ate into the bark.

"So I'm guessing Trunk finally woke up?" Ron asked almost conversationally as he dodged gunfire and took to swinging from vines again.

"Oh he woke up awhile ago but went back upstairs to get some more of his weapons and ammo." Hecate explained.

"Oh good. Wouldn't want him to not get in the fun." Looking at the bark of the tree as he swung past Ron could see the monkey faces were glaring and silently shouting at him.

"Hey I'm not thrilled by this either guys." He said to them.

Shego had found the next stairwell and was on a new level of the museum. This level appeared to be dedicated to instruments of torture as Shego recognized a rack and some thumb screws in a exhibit. The images were not helping her mental state as she imagined Ron being slowly ripped apart by some faceless women. The unpleasant mental image was disrupted by Hecate suddenly asking her. "Does this Ron Stoppable have some kind of mental problem?"

Shego frowned. "Not that I know of. Although hanging around Kim Possible all the time might mean he has a screw loose somewhere. Why do you ask?"

"He seems to be talking to the bark of a tree."

"What tree? I thought he was on the 8th floor of this place?! You mean he's outside?" Shego shouted as she skidded to a halt.

"No. He's in the building on the 8th floor. That is the jungle room."

"You are telling me this place has trees... On the 8th floor?" Shego asked in shock

"Yes. Some of them are quite large as a matter of fact. The 8th floor has the highest ceilings in the building for that reason."

Shego stood for a moment with a blank look on her face as she tried to imagine why a tree setting would be on a top floor of a building before she shook it off. "What tree is Ron talking to?"

"Its the Monkey Ghost tree." Hecate told her. "Doctor Madacar brought it back from the Amazon based on local legends that monkey masters could see monkey spirits in the tree. The Doctor saw nothing of course but thought the tree would make an interesting addition to his museum."

"Ron is attuned in some way to monkeys." Shego replied. "I don't understand it or know the whole story myself but he has something he calls the Mystical Monkey Power. He used it a year ago to heal me when I was injured so I know there is something there, just not what or how it works."

"Hmm." Hecate mused. "Doctor Madacar tried to track down some mystical monkey statues a while back but he heard he had been beaten to the discovery by a British person.

"Lord Monty Fisk?"

"Yeah. That was the name. How did you know?"

"Educated guess." Was all that Shego said.

"So just to recap..." Ron said to Hecate. "I'm trapped on a upper floor of a museum filled with dangerous maybe even magical items hunted by a bunch of military crazies that want me dead for no other reason than they are really bored?"

"About the size of it." Hecate replied. "Sorry."

"Eh. About par for the course of my life." Ron shrugged and then ran as gunfire broke out underneath him once again.

Even though it was cool almost cold in the museum, Shego was hot and sweaty from all the exercise. Even though she was in tip top shape she was still gasping for air as she ran. "Museum too frickin big!" She wheezed as she leaned against an exhibit. She was too tired to even notice the name tag on it or care. Whipping her hair out of her eyes she looked up at the ceiling. "What floor am I on now? I've lost count."

"You are on the 7th floor. I'm very impressed." Hecate praised her.

"Ron? Is he okay?"

"Yes. Surprisingly he has manage to keep from being riddled with bullets from Trunk, has escaped being skewered by Stinger and kept himself out of the hands of the Pincer sisters."

"Only four of them? I thought the Lost Scorpions were a bigger lot than that?"

"Oh they are. Those four are the worse of the lot so they accepted this job because they were bored. They hoped the museum would attract a lot more thieves they could slaughter."

"Great." Shego said sarcastically. "So the worse of the worse are the ones after Ron? At least you say he's managed to keep his skin on so far."

Hecate gave a almost human sounding giggle. "That's about all he's managed to keep on. He's lost his pants and his shirt and is running around in nothing but his shorts and his shoes."

Shego shook her head but still smiled. "Trust him to survive but still lose his clothes. How has it happened?"

"He lost his shirt to Right Pincer when she almost got her claws into him. And the pants he lost climbing a vine to avoid Stinger."

Shego got the seventh level door open and started up the stairs to the eighth level. "Hang on Tarzan. Your Jane is coming."

Ron meanwhile had found temporary sanctuary in a giant hollowed out tree trunk. This tree however was not a real tree but a realistic mockup of one. Hecate explained that the tree represented one that the Doctor Madacar had lived in for three months when he stayed with a witch doctor trying to learn his tribal magic.

The hollowed out tree was roughly round shape and large enough to hold a low bed, a table where a mannequin wearing so many feathers that Ron thought it was Big Bird when he first landed in the room and a small firepit.

Ron running from the Pincer sisters had made a leap to clear what looked like a lightning struck tree when he slipped and fell into a hole in the bark as was dumped into this room. On one wall of the 'tree' was a round door that lead back to the floor of the museum. Hecate assured him though that the entrance was nearly invisible from the outside.

That was the last thing she told him before she went into quiet mode cause the Scorpions were so close if she were to converse with Ron it would give his location away to them.

Ron winced as he moved his shoulder and reaching back he was not surprised to find blood on his fingers. One of the Pincer sisters had gotten close enough to him during his run across the tree tops to try their glove hooks again and she had shallowly sliced his upper shoulder before he managed to give them the slip.

Walking over to the mannequin Ron eyed the wizened representation of the witch doctor. "So Doc?" Ron whispered to the figure. "Got anything to heal cuts?"

Reaching down to the table Ron picked up a gourd and shook it. Hearing sloshing from inside Ron pulled the cork and sniffed.

A peppery scent invaded his nose and he started to violently sneeze.

Suddenly the door to the tree room blew open in a shower of splinters and standing in the doorway was Trunk but instead of his chain gun or his machine guns he was carrying...

"A rocket launcher?!" Ron shouted as he dove sideways.

The feathered mannequin exploded in a colorful spray of feathers as Trunk's rocket hit it.

Using the 'waterfall of feathers' Ron scrambled up the side of the hewn room and made it back to the hole he fell in. Behind him he could hear Trunk moving beneath him.

"Oh crap. Oh crap. Oh crap." Ron who usually didn't use such language chanted as the mental image of a rocket going up his butt caused him to scramble even faster.

As he cleared the opening in the tree's side he felt another burning pain shoot through his uninjured shoulder and wasn't very surprised when he glanced back to find both Pincer sisters grinning at him like the cat that ate the canary.

"If I were you, I would move away from that hole!" Ron shouted to them as they neared where he was huddled on a tree branch.

"Why?" Right Pincer asked. Curiously she glanced down the hole, only to grab her sister and dive sideways. Ron also decided to leap off the branch.

A moment later the whole top of the mock tree disappeared as Trunk's rocket blew it away.

"TRUNK!" Both Pincer sisters yelled.

A smoking and slightly singed Trunk wandered out of the shell of the mock tree. Grinned at the sisters and then fell face forward to land on the path.

"And Trunk is out again." Ron stated as he started running again. He could hear Stinger calling to the women and realized that for the first time the stairwell leading down was unprotected and Ron was closer to it than the Scorpions.

Sweaty and wheezing Ron threw every last ounce of remaining strength he had him as he burst through the greenery and spied the exit door.

"I'm going to make it." Ron gasped to himself as he reached the door... Threw it wide open and dove into the stairwell... Only to run smack dab into a surprised Shego.

As the two lay on the landing of the stairwell, the door slowly swung shut and as soon as it was, Hecate sealed and locked it.

Ron was lying directly on top of Shego. His eyes staring into hers. His hands resting directly on top of her breasts. They both stared at each other for a moment. Too exhausted to think. That was until Ron flexed his hands.

Shego raised an eyebrow and reciprocated by lowering her hands to his boxer covered butt and squeezing. "Miss me?" She asked.

"You could say that. You never called or wrote." Ron said trying to not sound like a whiney gilted boyfriend, which was what he was feeling.

"Hey I just ran up seven flights of stairs not to mention crisscrossing this entire museum over and over when I heard you were in danger. Doesn't that cut me some slack?"

"A year Shego. A full year. I want to ask Wade time and time again if there was any information on you to make sure you were okay but I couldn't without Kim hearing about it." Ron took one of his hands and gently swept Shego's sweat stuck hair from her forehead. "I was terrified that Drakken had pulled some failed experiment that we hadn't heard about and you had been killed or maimed or..."

"Hey it would take a lot to keep me down. You know that. And its not like I could just drop by your school and ask to see you, you know."

"But you know where my house is and the fact that most times it is empty and lonely. You could have come by..." Ron couldn't help himself from saying even knowing it was really starting to make him sound like the whiney and needy boyfriend.

"Yeah. Well... Time got away from me. I'll admit it." Shego said feeling a sense of guilt that was totally foreign to her. "To alleviate the tension and to reassert her bad girl reputation she looked deeply into his eyes and then said. "You do know the way this is going is making you the girl in this relationship?"

Ron blinked and then starting quivering as he tried to suppress his laughing. Exhaustion and the past tension almost making it hysterical laughter. "Are you saying I feel like a girl?" He asked as he shifted his position on top of her.

"Why Stoppable. Is that Rufus in your pocket are you just really glad to see me?" Shego blinked. "Wait. You aren't wearing pants. Where is that rodent of yours?" She asked genuinely concerned.

Rufus is safe at home. He had plans for Halloween and I didn't see the sense of Kim ruining his night as well." Ron continued to gently stroke Shego's hair and shifted on top of her again. "And yes. I am very glad to see you again."

"Um guys?" Hecate's voice called out to them. "While this is fun to watch, and I do mean that by the way, you might want to remember that..."

Her voice was cut off as loud banging noises came from the door to the 8th level of the museum began. "Pretty one. Let us in. Or we'll huff and puff and blow you... Up."

"Crap." Ron said and jumped off of Shego and then extended a hand to help her up. Together they began to run back down the stairs to the lower level. "Pretty one?" Shego asked him raising an eyebrow.

"What can I say?" Ron returned with a grin. "They are warm for the Ron man's form." His grin faded. "Never thought it would be a bad thing to say that about two hot women."

"Hot women?" Shego said as her own grin faded.

The sound of tearing metal from the door frame above spurred both of them to running harder as they reached the door to the sixth level and slammed it shut behind them. Once again Hecate sealed the door.

"Oh they are definitely attractive." Ron mused as he jogged alongside Shego across the museum floor. He missed her frown as he looked up at the ceiling. "Hecate how did they get that door open so quickly this time? Trunk again?"

"In a way. They dragged his unconscious body to the door and threw him at it till it broke. The door I mean, not Trunk."

Ron shook his head. "That has got to be the weirdest group of people I have ever met. And coming from me that says a lot."

"I think I'm offended." Shego wheezed and then pulled to a stop near some exhibit tables. "Also I'm exhausted. We have to take a break. I'm not recovered yet from my marathon run to find you."

Ron scooped Shego up into his arms and continued to run. Shego looking up into his eyes could see they were glowing an electric blue showing that he was once again tapping into his mystical monkey powers to continue on. She was swept away by a sense of deja vu. Though this time they were not being chased by ghosts from a sanatorium but by a couple of sick bimbos through a museum.

"I was suppose to save you this time." she complained.

"You are exhausted." Ron told her. "With my mystical monkey powers I can push way past normal human limits."

Shego smirked. "Yeah I remember."

"Yeah running for our lives from a threat in a weird place. Just like last year. This is quickly becoming our usual October thing."

"Actually I was referring to what we did Halloween last year. I think we pushed past several normal human limits then as well."

Ron nearly stumbled. "Shego..." He said warningly. "Now is so not the time."

"What can I say?" Shego said with a grin. "Danger excites me."

If Ron hadn't been concentrating on running he might have rolled his eyes. "No? Really? I could never guess that."

Shego gave him a mock glare. "Hey I felt when you were on top of me back in the stairs. Danger doesn't exactly bore you either." Her glare became more real and less mock as she added. "Unless it was those two whack jobs that had you so excited?"

Ron almost stumbled again. "You are not telling me you are jellin over those two are you?"

"You did call them two hot women earlier." She reminded him.

"They are psychos!" Ron nearly shouted in shock. "They want to kill me."

Shego shrugged. "Some guys might not mind dying the way they intend to off you."

Ron's frown turned to a slight smile. "True I can imagine worse ways to die than being sexually assaulted by two sexy women, but then again not too many worse ways."

Shego frowned and racked her nails lightly down Ron's bare chest.

"Shego they are bad girls. Sure they are attractive in a 'we are going to tie you down and beat the daylights out of you' but trust me I'm not into that kind of thing."

"Really Stoppable?" Shego asked, her smirk back in full force. "I seem to remember you not having any trouble with a bad girl tying you down last year."

"I don't mind being tied down by a certain bad girl." Ron said grinning down at Shego. "And you didn't beat me while I was down either."

Shego snuggled deeper into his arms. "I've missed this." She admitted.

"Running for our lives?"

Shego started to frown but then looked thoughtful. "Well... Maybe. But I was more talking about us being close like this."

Ron paused and leaned against the back wall of the museum. His monkey powers increased his endurance, true. But they weren't unlimited. He had been running almost the entire night and he was reaching the end of his strength. He however made no move to release Shego from his arms. "I wasn't sure." He said softly.

"Huh?" Shego asked.

"I wasn't sure that the night we shared meant the same to you as it did to me."

Shego reached up and lightly touched the side of Ron's face to make him look at her. "Ron..." She started.

"Um, guys? While this is totally fun to watch you two, you are just so cute together. The Lost Scorpions have the keys to the elevator and are using them to take elevators to different floors to cut you off." Hecate said.

A ding that sounded like a pistol shot in the sudden silence after her warning rang out. And both Ron and Shego looked the short distance away to the elevator banks near them as one of the doors opened.

A very familiar pair of kinky twins stepped out.

"Oh sure." Ron muttered. "They would pick this floor." He looked down to Shego. "I can't run any more. I'm out of monkey mojo."

Shego quickly climbed out of Ron's arms to stand beside him. "Then we stop running and teach these two crazy bitches who they are messing with."

"Pretty one!" One of the sisters cried upon spotting Ron. They pulled to a stop when they saw Ron wasn't running and noticed Shego with him. "Or should that be pretty ones?" Left Pincer added.

Shego swept her sweat slicked hair back and sneered at them. "I'm not into women."

The two sister shared a look between them and then looked back at Shego. At almost the exact time the claws are their gloves extended with a 'snick' sound. The blades which had only barely extended past their gloves, no longer than a woman's normal fingernails might, were now four feet long. Nearly sword length.

"We've never been 'into' a woman either... But we bet their insides are as squishy and as fun as a males."

Shego glanced at Ron. "These two are really twisted and sick aren't they?"

"Told ya." Ron replied as he readied to fight by her side.

Shego without another word formed a fireball in her hands and hurled it at the sisters... Only to see them link their blades together, catch the fireball and harmless throw it to the side a moment later.

"Those things are plasma proof?" Shego said in disbelief.

"Of course." Right Pincer replied. "We took this gig to protect a museum from theft thinking we would get to slaughter a bunch of thieves without any repercussions. Did you really think we would not take precautions for dealing with one of the most famous of thieves there is? Me and my sister have been hoping that you would show up! We had almost given up hope of crossing our blades with you as we are to leave tomorrow morning and this dump is going to be torn down but then you did show up... And brought a extra pretty one to play with to boot."

"Okay, I've tried not to harm any of you tonight cause I thought this was basically a huge misunderstanding." Ron said, his eyes glowing blue. "But hearing you admit that the only reason you took this job is for a chance to kill someone?" Ron held out his hand and commanded. "Lotus Blade to me."

There was a blue flash of light and Ron was holding a gleaming sword.

"Pity the Doctor is not here." Hecate said from above. "He would have loved to catalog and analyze that weapon. Add it to the museum."

The Pincer Sisters however were not as impressed.

Left Pincer let out a shriek and charged Ron. Raising her glove knives she slashed horizontally at him.

Ron raised the Lotus Blade in a vertical motion to block her attack and Left Pincer's blades hit the mystical ninja weapon. There was four distinct 'tink' noises as her blades were cleanly sheared away by the Lotus Blade.

"Your weapon maybe plasma proof but they are nothing compared to the Lotus Blade." Ron explained to them. "Now just go away and leave me and Shego alone and no one has to be hurt!"

Right Pincer walked over to where her sister was staring at her severed blades. The two sisters leaned their heads together and quietly convened for a moment before taking the last few steps between them and Ron. Shego quickly joined Ron.

"My sister and I have talked about it and we have decided..." Right Pincer said lowering her voice conspiratorially.

Ron and Shego leaned forward to hear her better.

"That instead of taking your manhood... We're going to have you both stuffed and mounted together cause you two are such a cute couple." Right Pincer finished as both her and her sister spun on their heels and lashed out in kicks that caught Ron and Shego by surprise and sending them flying backwards. Ron's hold of the Lotus Blade was knocked loose and the sword clattered to the floor.

Ron and Shego flew a few feet to crash into a exhibit's table smashing it flat. Shego's left hand slapped the floor next to Ron's right hand and there was a 'klik' noise.

"Plasma resistant equipment or not, you bitches are so dead!" Shego roared as she jumped to her feet. Beside her she could sense Ron leaping up at the same time she did. Forming a fireball, Shego prepared to go on a all out plasma attack. One of her fireballs had to make it through the sisters defenses and singe them. Feeling her powers surge and then start to fade, Shego glanced at her right hand in time to see her green glow sink back into her hand and then cross across her chest into her other hand. Looking at that hand she watched as her green glow was pulled into a cuff on her arm and then down a chain over to where Ron was standing beside her looking at a identical cuff on his right wrist. Ron let out a yelp as he felt burning pain spreading over his right arm. He tried to jerk away from the pain and pulled Shego sideways. Startled Shego ceased trying to summon her powers and the green glow flowing down the chain to Ron ceased and Ron calmed down as the burning pain receded.

Shego examined the ornate cuff made of some shiny silver metal and then at the identical one on Ron's wrist connected by a chain made of the same silver metal. She then looked over at a equally confused Pincer sisters.

"Um, Ron?" Shego asked.

"I'm on it." Ron muttered. Raising his right hand he called out. "Lotus Blade to me." Once again the mystical weapon rose majestically into the air and started to float over to his hand... Only to fade away and disappear into thin air.

Ron opened and closed his hand several times in confusion before staring at his hand in enough time to see the blue glow of his Mystical Monkey powers flowing into the cuff and down the chain over to Shego.

Shego instead of pain felt a comforting soothing feeling flow up her left arm into her body. It reminded of the time a year ago when Ron had healed her using his powers.

"Hecate. What are me and Ron wearing?" She asked holding up her arm so Hecate could 'see' the cuffs and chain.

"That is the ceremonial marriage bracelets of the Wubba Wubba tribe. Doctor Madacar was told that the cuffs allowed newly wedded couples to experience in totality each other. While romantic, Doctor Madacar could detect nothing special about the bracelets other than they are made of some odd metal he could not identify nor scratch."

"Oh..." Ron began.

"Snap." Shego ended.

The confused Pincer sisters looked on for a moment before identical evil smiles crossed their faces. "Going to be less fun if they can't fight back..." Said Left Pincer.

"But means we can spend more time on fun things." Right Pincer finished and then licked her lips as she stared at Ron and Shego.

A suddenly very nervous Ron stared back at them for a moment before looking past them. "Trunk? A nuke? Really?!"

Both sisters spun to look behind them and as soon as they did Ron swept Shego up into his arms and took off running as fast as he could in another direction.

The two sisters stared at the nothingness behind them for a moment in silence. "I can't believe we fell for that." Right Pincer finally said.

Left Pincer grimaced. "Well when dealing with Trunk I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't have a nuke stashed somewhere just looking for a opportunity to use it."

Right Pincer looked to her sister. "So the chase is on once again?"

"The chase is on once again!" Turning the two sisters started strolling arm in arm after the fleeing Ron.

"Hecate!" Ron shouted as he managed to put some distance between him and the sisters. "I need help." He wheezed. "I can't access my powers and I can't keep running." An equally worried Shego kept glancing over his shoulder back the way they came.

"Doctor Madacar keeps an office on each level of the museum. You can take refuge there." Hecate replied softly.

"And get trapped in a small room that the sisters can easily find us in?" Shego asked also lowering her voice.

"Not easily. The Doctor valued his privacy. The door to his office is not identified in any way and you have to know where it is to find it."

"So where is this door?" Shego asked looking up at a sweating and wheezing Ron.

A faint click was heard on a wall not too far from them and a section of the wall slowly opened.

"Thank God it was close at least." Ron wheezed and he ran the few feet and dove into the opening. The wall quickly shut behind him once again looking like a normal section of wainscoting.

They were in complete darkness for a moment before bright lights came on blinding them for a moment. When their eyes adjusted, they could see that the office had a massive desk with a computer monitor on it and the rest of the surface was strewn with blueprints.

Ron gasping for breath stood and looked around for a moment.

"Um Ron?" Shego said. "You can put me down."

Releasing Shego, Ron managed to make it to a desk chair and sank into it. Shego being pulled along by the chain on the cuffs. Ron looked up at her standing beside him for a moment before clasping her hand and pulling her to sit in his lap.

"Well this could be cozy." Shego muttered. "Even with these things if we weren't being hunted." She held up her arm causing the chain to drag Ron's up with her.

"I've never seen the exhibits act up like this." Hecate said in a normal conversational voice. "You two must be extra special."

"Shhh!" Ron and Shego both hissed.

"What? Oh didn't I mention? The Doctor's offices are all soundproofed so he wouldn't be disturbed by the crowds he expected in his museum."

"Oh? No you forgot to mention that handy fact." Shego replied sarcastically. "So about these handcuffs?"

"The ceremonial marriage bracelets of the Wubba Wubba tribe."

"Whatever. How do we get these things off?"

"Um, I don't know. The tribal elders wouldn't talk to the Doctor about the bracelet. The only thing the Doctor knew was that newly joined couples would have the bracelet closed around their wrists and then retire to a hut for the night. The next morning the pleased couple would return the bracelet back to the village elders.

The Doctor 'borrowed' the bracelet to examine it but found no key hole or obvious locking mechanism. He brought them back to the museum to study them more and ended up putting in the exhibit you two smashed."

"Translation. He stole the sacred marriage item from the tribe, couldn't figure out what they really were or how they worked so he tossed them on a table and put a place card next to them."

"The Doctor was a scholar..."

"Am I wrong?" Shego demanded.

"Um... No."

"So how does this story help us?" Ron said tiredly holding his arm up with the chain.

Shego looked thoughtful. "A marriage bracelet meant to bring two people as close as they possibly can, worn by couples on their 'honeymoon' and the next day they have come off." She looked at a oblivious Ron. "Come on Ron, what do couples do on their honeymoons?"

"Well... They..." Ron blushed. "Wait. You don't mean we have to... To get these things to come off?"

"We have to get off, to get these off." Shego confirmed.

Tiredly Ron looked around the small office. "Well... At least this place is soundproof." He said as he ran his hands down Shego's hips, before picking her up and carrying her to the desk. Sweeping the blueprints off he pushed Shego back and began kissing her.

"Took a lot to convince you." Shego grinned.

"Been waiting a whole year to do this again." Ron muttered.

Shego frowned at being reminded again how she hadn't contacted Ron. Her frown faded however as Ron began nibbling on her neck as his big hands started to pull up her top.

"I really wish I had the extra storage space in my memory units to record this event." Hecate stated.

"How about a little privacy?" Shego growled at the computer voice.

"Be kind of hard. You are practically having sex on top of me. I'm almost part of a threesome."

Ron and Shego looked at each other and then hopped off the desk and looked underneath it. A large sliver box was under the desk with a single large black lens in the center of it.

"Hi guys." Hecate's voice said but this time not from the ceiling of the room but from the silver box.

"You just happened to direct us to the office that you were in?" Shego asked suspiciously.

"We just happen to be on the middle floor of the museum where is where the Doctor chose to locate my central processor unit. The other offices have relay boxes and some extra memory storage units but this is the 'real' me so to speak."

Ron sighed and rested his chin on the top of Shego's head. "I am in a museum of magical items that some guy named Madacar collected but apparently didn't believe in, chained to my dream woman, having to have sex to get a tribe's marital aid off of my wrist in front of a voyeur computer. Oh. I forgot! With psycho killers prowling around outside the door."

"Yeah. How will we be able to top this next Halloween?" Shego agreed. She could feel Ron stiffen behind her and not in the fun way.

"Am I going to have to wait another year after this?" Ron asked as he tightened his grip around Shego's waist.

"Ron... You know a relationship between you and me would be difficult at best..." Shego began but was spun around by Ron and stopped as his mouth crashed down upon hers and he kissed her desperately. Ron kept kissing her to keep her from pointing out all the reasons this couldn't work as he once again set her on top of the desk and his hands began to explore her body under her clothes.

Finally Shego gently pushed him back but said nothing as she stared into his eyes and slowly began to remove her own clothes.

As Ron began to kiss down her naked body, Shego could feel coming from the bracelet on her wrist a warming almost loving feeling. Inside her mind she could see herself but not with her usual smirk but a beatific smile and she was wearing a Greek style gown. Her hair was gleaming black waves down her shoulder.

Shego was a vain person. She admitted it. She looked good and she knew it but never on her best days did she look as stunning as the mental image of herself. With a bit of a shock she realized she was seeing herself as Ron saw her. A Goddess of beauty and love.

"Really Ron? A Goddess?" She asked kind of amused.

Ron stopped what he was doing, which Shego greatly regretted and pulled back to look at her in shock. Glancing over to his right hand which was tightly clasped to Shego's left hand he glared at the bracelet on his arm.

Shego instantly got another mental image. "This one of Ron as a lowly monkey trying to scamper up a tree but failing and falling back to the base of it over and over. A tree that standing on a limb near the top was the image of Shego in her Goddess form. "Oh Ronnie. You are so worthy of me. Don't you even think for a moment you aren't." She sighed as she placed her free hand on the side of his face.

Ron jerked back in surprise and stared into her eyes for a moment before desperately kissing her again.

The warm feelings coming from the bracelet on Shego's wrist increased as Ron began thrusting into her.

Ron continued to make love to Shego and as he gave into the moment he saw in his mind's eye an image of a wild disheveled Shego standing on top of a pile of bodies with an evil smirk on her face as she threw fireballs left and right and laughed. He could see an image of himself as a shining knight in armor riding on top of a magnificent white stallion. He rode up to the base of the pile of bodies and raise his visor to call to Shego. The evil image of Shego threw a fireball at his image and he exploded into fire to be replaced by a twisted evil thing. Chains then sprang from Shego's hands and hooking into his body began to pull him up the pile to stand at her side. The image was enough to almost break Ron's rhythm and it did cause him to slow. It was his turn to put his hand to Shego's face. "Shego you aren't some monster going to corrupt and change me. And I'm here of my own free will. You aren't as evil as you think you are. And I'm certainly no knight in shining armor on a white charger. Truth be told, I'm scared of horses and me in armor? I would probably kill myself with clumsiness."

It was Shego's turn to jerk back in surprise but a moment later she moaned in pleasure. "You are my knight in shining armor." She told Ron.

In Shego's mind she saw the monkey Ron that couldn't climb the tree she was in slowly morph into her Ron and he swiftly climbed to stand by her side.

In Ron's mind the wild and disheveled Shego slowly changed into the Shego he knew and she stopped wildly laughing evilly but smiled at him gently.

As both young people simultaneously reached their orgasmic release, neither noticed the bracelets on their arms fall away softly.

Hours later both Shego and Ron awoke from their much needed rest. Both were still naked but neither cared. Ron was lying on the massive desk and Shego was lying on top of him with her hand resting on his chest. Shego was the first to notice that the bracelets were gone. "Seems we guessed correctly on the way to get those things to release."

Ron grinned at her. "Maybe we should lock them on our wrists and try it again? Just to make sure. I mean in the name of science?"

Shego laughed lightly and caressed his naked chest. "I would really like that. I have never felt anything like I have with those cuffs but its getting late. The Scorpions will have to leave soon. Your ride will be getting here to take you back to Kim and Drakken will be expecting me with his stolen goodies."

"You still are going to take him the items he wants?" Ron asked her.

Shego frowned. "Ronnie... I'm not turning good. I love you dearly but I couldn't turn over a new leaf if I wanted to. Global Justice would have me in a prison cell before we could blink."

"Um, no that wasn't what I meant. I know you are not going to give up your life style for me. I meant we know at least some of the items in this museum are quite real. Do you really think its a good idea to give that kind of possible fire power to Drakken? Him playing with occult items scare me greatly... He might end up doing something dumb that ends up with you getting hurt."

Shego thought she almost felt a tear come to her eye. Ron wasn't worried that Drakken might use his new magic toys and end up ruling the world. His first thought was that she might get hurt by the idiot. To say she was touched would have been an understatement.

She covered up how much she was touched by her usual bluster. "You and Princess always stop him before his plans get too far along. You'll continue to do so I'm sure." She started to climb off of him but Ron gripped her around her waist and wouldn't let her go. "I could go with you?" He suggested.

"No." Shego said firmly. "I will not be the one to corrupt you."

"You once wanted me to join you on the dark side." Ron reminded her.

"And it changed who you were. I don't want you to ever change." She told him earnestly. "Not even if the change was for me."

Ron still refused to let her go. "It nearly killed me a year ago when you left me. After tonight I know it will." He said. He didn't care how needy he sounded.

"The same for me. I don't know how we will do this but believe me, I am not going to quit you."

Ron slowly released his desperate hold on her and watched as Shego slowly got dressed.

Finally he hopped off the desk and put his boxers back on. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Shego pick the bracelets up off the desk and slip them into a pouch on her belt. He turned to face her and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm keeping these toys." She said. "Just for us."

After the night they shared, the morning after was almost anti-climatic. Hecate alerted them the moment the reluctant Scorpions finally left the museum. The Pincer sisters complaining all the way about losing their trophies. Trunk complaining about not getting to use up all his ammo and Stinger? He was just strolled out with a jaunty swing of his sword cane.

Shego quickly filled out her shopping list of items and was picked up by Drakken. Minus the one huge stone arch. Ron watched with a few tears in his eyes from the cover of the gazebo as they flew off. Ron manged to find some clothing on an exhibit that fit him and donned that. Tight leather pants, a frilly white shirt and a cape with a high back collar. He couldn't ask Hecate where the costume came from or what it was supposed to be as Shego took the computer's central core with her when she left.

Ron made his way back up to the roof of the museum, all the doors standing open as there was no longer a Hecate to keep them sealed. He waited in the morning light as his helicopter ride showed up and as they left the valley he looked back and could see heavy machinery rumbling up the valley road to tear down the museum. He sadly shook his head at the titanic waste of materials and items still left in the museum but it wasn't his call. The family of the doctor had the right even if it made no sense.

After getting back to Middletown he told Kim and Wade about the mix up with Lost Scorpions and the harrowing night he spent, avoiding any mention of Shego or Drakken of course. Kim seemed genuinely concerned about his experience, that was until a call came in from Josh Mankey at which point she took off. Wade apologized and promised to investigate requests to the website more carefully.

Ron returned to his home, not surprised in the least to find it was just him and Rufus there once again. His parents deciding to take Hana with them on yet another vacation.

"Well Rufus I'm glad you had fun Halloween night. You wouldn't believe the night I had." Ron said to his naked mole rat. Rufus had heard the sanitized version earlier with Kim and Wade but now Ron was going to tell him about his night with Shego.

The naked mole rat was interested in hearing Ron retell the story again but was very tired. The twins having kept him awake most of Halloween night.

Rufus's tiny eyes started to close as his fatigue caught up with him but suddenly his eyes shot wide open and he gave a terrified squeak. Ron turning to see what had spooked his best buddy saw Shego entering his bedroom window.

"Its okay Rufus. Me and Shego are..." Ron paused. He wasn't really sure what they were. "We have an agreement." He finished. "I'll tell you about it tomorrow." He promised. Picking up Rufus he put him in his cage and placed a cover over it. "Get some sleep little buddy. I'll be fine I promise."

Turning he looked to Shego.

Shego brought from behind her back a very familiar pair of bracelets attached to each other by a silver chain. "We should test these things again... In the name of science of course."

Ron quickly crossed the floor to join her and kissed her deeply. When they finally came up for air he rested his forehead against her's. "You know, I think science is quickly going to become my favorite subject." He told her with a smile.

"I didn't think to say this yesterday Ronnie but... Happy Halloween."


End file.
